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Milky Way's Black Hole a Gamma Source?

Posted by kdawson on from the high-energy-pinball dept.

eldavojohn writes "A paper recently accepted for publication (preprint here) proposes a sound explanation for the source of the gamma rays that permeate our galaxy. The Milky Way's central object Sagittarius A*, widely believed to be a supermassive black hole, is now suspected to be the source. To test this theory, two scientists created a computer model to track the protons, flung outward with energies up to 100 TeV by the intense magnetic fields near the event horizon, as they make a random walk through the plasma environment. It can take thousands of years for them to travel 10 light-years from the black hole, where they collide with lower-energy protons to form pions. These decay into gamma radiation emanating from a torus-shaped region around the central object."

3 of 100 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Do we know? by MightyMartian · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I've been semi-interested in Cosmology/Astrophysics lately, and from everything I've seen and read so far, I've ascertained that we don't know much. Between dark matter, dark energy, gravity, black holes, big bang, etc. it seems like we just conveniently make up "stuff" to fit some model or equation. Do discoveries like this mean anything at this time considering there's no way to prove any of it?
    Translation: I know the names of some scientific fields, but never read more than the science headlines in the newspaper. Clearly this is the fault of scientists.
    --
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  2. Re:Distribution of life? by Normal+Dan · · Score: 5, Interesting

    There are already dangerous levels of radiation within our own solar system, however, we are protected by an atmosphere. I would imagine one of two possibilities. Any planet with the potential for life closer to the center of our galaxy would have enough shielding of some sort (either a thick atmosphere or a thick ocean) to allow life to form on almost any suitable location in the galaxy. The other possibility is, life can exist in high amounts of radiation, but it might not be life as we know it.

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  3. Re:Brings to mind this question .... by PhrostyMcByte · · Score: 5, Informative

    Would someone please explain why parent is modded funny?

    A* is a path finding algorithm. It is used in many games, such as Starcraft.